Survey Results, Part I

You guys asked for survey results, so you are getting survey results! Because the internet is home to the most talented and most generous women on the planet, you happen to be getting stylish survey results. Amazing Jamie* offered to make them beautiful, because as an architect and a designer, she loves graphs (who else loves graphs like this?) So thanks Jamie. Big thanks.

A quick recap: I posted a survey last week, and within TWELVE HOURS, a THOUSAND of you responded. What? That’s a crazy amount of responses. Then, y’all were like, “Data, data, data, we love statistics.” So. Since I love them too, lets get started.You’re women. 99.5% women to be exact, with 0.3% of you being male, and 0.2% of you being gender queer. One of my friends said something like, “You have as many gender queer readers as men? Really? That’s awesome.” And I think so too. That said, this leads to a bit of a conundrum. Lots of you said that you wanted more content from men, and I heartily agree. That said, I learned a long time ago that what works for this blog is content submitted by members of the community… and we don’t have very many men. So, that’s tough. But I’m putting an official call out, if maybe, your partner reads this blog over your shoulder and has something to say… he should submit it. That, and I’m open to ideas and discussion.The average age for brides in the states is 25 years old. I’m not terribly surprised that this blog skews older than that – 60% of you are 25-30 (like me this month), and 20% of you are 30-40 (like me next month). Since the wedding industry always seems like it’s aimed at not-to-bright 16 year-olds, it’s nice that there is a place for… the rest of us.And speaking of bright… y’all are well educated. The other week when I posted about the 40% of Team Practical in grad school, you guys thought I was joking. Not joking. It turns out that 30% of you have graduate degrees, while another 20% of you are in graduate school. That’s 50%, and the term for that is, I think, “crazy.”Fascinatingly, only 55% of you are currently engaged. 15% of you are pre-engaged (so to speak), 20% of you are newlyweds, and 6% of you just like it around here (awwww).And finally, budgets. Though most of you fall in the $6,000 – $20,000 range (and even that is a big range) I’m actually really happy that this site is able to serve readers with a huge variety of budgets. Because really, grounded common sense does not have a particular price tag. When I started this site, I wanted a place where I didn’t feel judged for my budget (the words “Budget Wedding” engraged me) and it looks like that has happened here, and that makes me happy.

Next week…. content, content, content. What you guys want is fascinating to me, and in some ways, delightfully surprising. I can’t wait to talk more about it.

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On Jasmine: Flirty Festivities Jumpsuit ($89.99) | On Meg: Captain’s Dinner and a Movie Sheath Dress ($89.99)There are a few reasons I love ModCloth. First, women-owned businesses will always have my heart (and my dollars). And second, their commitment to representing all body types, and making cute dresses for every size, is basically unparalleled in this industry. But this week I discovered a whole new reason to get on board the ModCloth bandwagon: retail therapy.
Because you know what? Sometimes the best way to emotionally recharge after an exhausting month, and prep for the insanity of the holidays is to throw on a frilly dress, try out that lipstick you’ve been working up the courage to wear, and dance around in the mirror until you are ready to face the world.…

your sane and practical view of weddings and marriage is applicable to those on any kind of budget! i'm definitely reeling at how expensive our wedding has become and APW is on the top of my list of reads. in fact, i've dubbed you the "must read" for all of my newly engaged friends. just in case they get a little "lost" along the way ;)

I looooove those graphs. And the statistics are pretty amazing too. I mean, I knew you were awesome, but a thousand people is surprising… that's a whole lotta people. Thanks for sharing the results with us, it's really neat.

I wonder if the time you posted the survey could have led to an even higher number of current students taking the survey? I know a lot of us working stiffs don't check in on blogs and whatnot until the end of the day or after work. Though obviously sometimes I check first thing in the morning… Priorities!

i'm so glad to see that many people responded! congrats on having so many readers. :)

those graphs are AWESOME! i'm such a visual person and graphs always help me. and what's this, jamie lives in san diego?!?! maybe i should have her do my invites! ;) i just love the simplicity of her visuals.

seriously. coolest. graphs and charts. ever. it never even Occurred to me that you could pretty up data like that. amazing!!

it's so cool to see the breakdown of the survey responses. I'm surrounded by people just like me! aahh!! awesome. and I'm with Jamie on wanting to go get started on my graduate degree after seeing those results. step 1: narrow down interests.

conmigo

See? Us smart women folk do exist. And we can like flowers and pretty things, while also kicking ass. Good to remember when TV and magazines can make us feel so isolated sometimes.

Those are some great graphics and very interesting data! I love statistics, especially when they're put into context (and even more so in fun visuals), so thanks to you both for going through the effort to make it pretty for us! I would have loved to have been able to participate in the survey, but I'm "just" another 28-year-old, engaged woman with a graduate degree and a wedding under $10K, so maybe it's not so bad that I missed the cutoff!

I bet you have a lot more male readers than that. I send my fiance posts that I think apply to us, but he doesn't check the site daily… or more than that, like I do. I'll ask if he'd be interested in writing a wedding undergraduate post.

@esbI would think that was true, except the percentages set when 100% people responded literally did not move at all with the next 900… which makes me think it's a pretty good cross section. I would have considered leaving it up longer if the numbers had been moving… at all.

Wow I LOVE the graphs! I'm practically a statistician in my daily life and I only wish journals would accept pretty graphs like that! Would make them more fun to read for sure.And I think it's hilarious that I'm exactly your "average reader" though it was hardly news considering I relate to most everything said here!

P.S. just delved (briefly) into the Knot blogs – I already knew they were not going to be my thing but I had no idea just how nasty people on there are! they just want to take each other down. I'm so glad I discovered you guys first or I might have been put off completely.

Nina

oops, by Knot blogs I of course meant discussion boards

Sarah

cool! thanks for sharing :)

p.s. not surprised that most of the people here are well-educated, because most of the comments are generally thoughtful and un-retarded (ala "the knot" forum boards). lol!

Cate Subrosa

Wow, that's interesting that the average age for brides in the states is 25. The average age for first marriages in England and Wales is 31 for men and 29 for women. (So at 24 I was reeeeally young here but just-under-average on your side of the pond.)

This was cool. It's nice to see the ocean in which my survey was a drop, ha ha.